Longtime Speaker's office chief of staff retires

March 24, 2014

PROVIDENCE â€“ Majority Leader Nicholas Mattiello has emerged as the front runner in the momentous vote to pick a new Speaker of the House of Representatives scheduled for later today, but challenger Michael Marcello says he has enough votes to make a fight of it.

Mattiello said on Monday that he has at least 48 votes. Marcello claims to have 33 votes. One of them has to be wrong, because there are only 75 members of the House of Representatives. It takes 38 votes to win the Speakerâ€™s gavel and both Democrats and Republicans get to cast a ballot.

Meanwhile, the first collateral damage in the battle between Mattiello and Marcello is Frank Anzeveno, who was chief of staff to Fox as well as his predecessor, William Murphy, and Murphyâ€™s predecessor, Pawtucketâ€™s John Harwood.

Both Mattiello and Marcello had indicated that they would replace Anzeveno, but Anzeveno announced his retirement on Monday.